NORFOLK, Virginia — They did it again.
Five years — to the day — after the University of Maryland Eastern Shore upset No. 1 seeded Hampton University in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament, the Hawks pulled off another heist.
The Shore (10-21) led wire-to-wire against No. 1 seeded Bethune-Cookman on Wednesday (March 11) on the way to a 61-55 victory and a spot in Friday's semifinal against the winner of the contest between No. 4 North Carolina A&T State and No. 5 North Carolina Central.
Senior Adrienne Jones (Baltimore, Maryland) led the Hawks with 21 points and seven rebounds and Amanda Carney (Old Bridge, New Jersey) chipped in 14, but more importantly they combined to go 11-for-13 from the free throw line in the decisive fourth quarter.
"We lost to Bethune-Cookman last year in a game that we were upset," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "It just goes to show you that what those kids did last year carried over. Amanda was there. AJ was there. That experience that they had made them hungry for this moment. Going through that last year helped us to really have a little bitter taste in our mouths and want to get it done. Those kids before have helped build a program that wants to compete."
Eastern Shore pushed out to a 9-2 lead with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter as both teams' defenses made buckets hard to come by early. Bethune would cut the Hawks lead to four several times during the first establishing an up and down pattern that would play out throughout the game.
"They kept creeping back and closing the score, but we just kept knocking down the shots we needed to and knocking down free throws," Carney said. "That was a big one. We just knew we were going to pull it out."
It was a game of runs as junior Bairesha Gill-Miles' (Lexington, Kentucky) layup pushed the lead to 10, 22-12 with 1:30 left in the second quarter. But the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run to end the half trailing just 22-18.
It didn't take long for The Shore to get started again in the third quarter. Gill-Miles made a jumper, Jones a layup and sophomore Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) a jumper of her own to push the lead back to 28-18 and force a Bethune timeout.
"From the start of the game really, we thought we could win," Jones said. "There was no point in time in the game where we didn't. It was believing in ourselves. I think at the start of the game we just believed in ourselves and made sure that we made shots, got back and talked on defense."
Bethune didn't go away though. It cut the lead to 34-31 with 1:20 left in the third, but Jones knocked down a 3-pointer to increase the advantage again — 37-31. With 10 seconds left in the period the Wildcats were back within one, but freshman Mya Thomas (Chesapeake, Virginia) found Carney on the left wing against the Bethune pressure and the junior drained the triple giving Thomas one of her game-high eight assists and the Hawks a 40-36 lead at the end of three.
"I'm happy for them because they are the ones that worked so hard to get to this point," Batchelor said. "They have been a remarkable group of kids no matter how bad things have gotten for us they have found way to fight and show up every day and A.J. and Amanda are perfect examples of why it's a pleasure to coach young people today."
The fourth quarter was another gauntlet for The Shore to survive. Bethune quickly cut the lead to just 40-37 and then Gill-Miles was called for an intentional foul after coming down with a defensive rebound with the Hawks up 42-37. She was crowded by the defense with 8:30 left and when she turned to create space she caught a BCU player with an elbow to the face.
It could have been a moment of panic for Batchelor's squad, but after Bethune knocked down two free throws, the Hawks pulled off a defensive stop and then Thomas made a long two to push the advantage back to five.
"I thought we had to fight for it today, fight our way through some calls, but I thought our kids showed a lot of resiliency and a lot of mental toughness to put us in a position to win," Batchelor said.
Over the final seven minutes of the contest Jones and Carney combined for 11 of the team's final 17 points — all at the line. The two outliers were a three-point play converted by Ksenia Popovich (Moscow, Russia) after an assist from Thomas to make it 51-46 with 1:40 left and a 3-pointer by Bailey moments later — again from Thomas — to make it 55-46.
For the game, Eastern Shore was outrebounded 50-40 by Bethune. It was the Wildcats' largest rebounding total of the season, but the Hawks worked hard enough on the glass to get the win. While Gill-Miles led the team with a season-high 14 boards, everyone was required to hit the glass to maintain the lead including the guards.
"Mandy (Carney) is our leading rebounder," Jones — who had seven rebounds — said. "She deserves everything she gets. For me, I just knew we had to get the ball. I went to go get it. Coach (Sidney) Raikes told me to go get it so I went to get it."
While The Shore will have Thursday to rest, the Eagles and Aggies will face off at noon to see who will advance to face them.
"Having to play yesterday was great for us and having the game that we had," Batchelor said. "We had a tough hard-fought game. Coppin played a tough game. We had to fight for it and I think it was kind of good because we had a little fight already. When you show up in less than 24 hours to play again, I thought there was a huge advantage being the team that gets to play rather than sit and wait. Now we have to do a great job of getting ready to play the next game which becomes the real challenge."
There were moments in time during the contest — bounces that went the right way on the rim, passes that cleared outstretched fingertips of the defense and opponent shots that didn't fall — that gave the feeling that maybe it was the Hawks' day. But, in the end, Batchelor pointed to the team's heart, desire and execution over the full 40 minutes as the key.
"We were very fortunate and I saw some things happen that made me feel more confident," Batchelor said. "We have been in these games. I have been Bethune before in these games where you are fighting and playing and expected to win, but for some reason you are just caught in the matrix and things just don't go your way. We have experienced that and we experienced it last year against the same team. I thought we did need some things to go our way, but at the end of the day knocking down shots — 21 for AJ and Amanda off the bench to give us 14 — I thought we earned it as well. "
